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Friday, March 25, 2011

Tour de Brew

Posted by
Bull E. Vard

Warm weather is just around the corner and gas prices are going nowhere but up. What better time to dig that old bike out of your garage, get the tires aired up, the chain greased up, helmet decobwebbed and get on that bike for a little ride. Maybe you can make a little habit of riding over to the grocery for an item or two or going to the liquor store to pick up a sixer (backpack may be required). Maybe you can get your confidence up enough where you can ride your bike to work a couple of times a week.

That's kind of the goal of BikeWalkKC and it's a goal I can get behind. In furtherance of this goal, BikeWalkKC is sponsoring its first annual Tour de Brew. The Tour de Brew is a little bike ride exploring the history of the great Kansas City brewing tradition. You can sign up for rides of either 15, 30 or 62 miles each with its own benefits. All rides will start and end at McCoy's Public House in Westport but necessarily will extend only so far. The 15 mile ride will take you through some of the historic locations throughout downtown and midtown. The 30 mile ride will extend into Waldo. And the 62 mile ride will extend out to Martin City and into "the lovely streets of southern Johnson County". I can almost hear the scorn and condescension now that many of the hard core cyclists willing to go 62 miles are going to heap upon southern JoCo as they ride through. And why not, there won't be any SoJoCo'ers on the ride, they're too busy paying their own and KC's taxes.

The reward for your ride is free beer from McCoy's and Boulevard at the end and maybe some snacks from McCoy's, Whole Foods and Spin Pizza along the way. The beer will be limited and not worth the $35 - $40 you're going to pay for the ride. But, it will be enough to reward you for a fine day's work. From my previous experience on a ride like this, those beers and food are worth at least $100, so you're really coming out ahead on the deal. Plus, unlike my previous experience, you can learn some of KC's rich brewing history.

Any schmo on a bike can ride 15 miles, this thing ain't timed, so you really have no reason, if you're at all interested in KC's beer history, to not ride in this thing. It should be a good time, bike people are typically beer people. After all, you have to replenish your body in some way after a good calorie burning ride. The most fun way is to have a good beer or three, bicyclists know this. I know Nate's with me on this.

The Tour de Brew is on May 22, the weather should be nice. If you register by May 8 the ride costs $35 and you get a t-shirt. After May 8 the price goes up to $40. Register here for the ride and if you don't want to ride you can always volunteer here. More details to come, you can follow more news from the Tour de Brew here.